


Behind Blue Eyes

by thesnowyswan



Series: Kinktober: 2018 [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Kinktober, M/M, Porn With Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 06:04:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16153130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesnowyswan/pseuds/thesnowyswan
Summary: 1.Deep-Throating | Inflation | Face-Sitting |Masks.It’s all for political gain. The one percent holding all the power and then the rest of them to scatter below like rats.When Aaron receives his invitation to the masquerade, it makes him sick with anger. It’s not an invitation, it’s a summons. A demand for him to appear and be judged. Either he is wanton or lacking. Desired or undesired.





	Behind Blue Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Kinktober is here again! Last year it was very much a writing exercise for me because I hadn't ever written any explicit works and the daily change in prompts stopped the overthinking and pushed heavily on the creating. This year, I still want to push myself, but I have kind of gone off the reservation quite a lot because in my pre-prep for the month, I wrote this fic, and then another one for a different day totaling 19k, and I'm 12k deep in the sequel for it (I'm separating the longer stories out). So, how much of the month I will do, I don't know, but the goal is to write better stories, and hopefully, I'm doing that. 
> 
> And technically, today is a two-fer (two prompts in one).
> 
> My eternal admiration goes to letthebluerain, rustandruin, robertisbisexual and illgetmerope, my fabulous team of friends who calm me tf when I'm being a useless spatula. 
> 
> Title is from rustandruin, who said I should call it this.

It’s all for political gain. The one percent holding all the power and then the rest of them to scatter below like rats.

When Aaron receives his invitation to the masquerade, it makes him sick with anger. It’s not an invitation, it’s a summons. A demand for him to appear and be judged. Either he is wanton or lacking. Desired or undesired.

What he wants doesn’t even come into it.

It’s a truth that is hidden that Aaron doesn’t want women the way other men do. His mother looks at him with the invitation in his fingers and she touches her chest like her heart hurts.

If a woman chooses him, then so be it.

Aaron is just a rat. No one who chooses him is going to care how he feels.

 

*

 

He lives in the local pub, so at least he doesn’t have to go outside for his bath, a necessity before the masquerade. Wouldn’t want the Elite to touch something as dirty as a poor person. Moreover, less people will know that he’s been summoned if he bathes in the privacy of his own home. His mum has always opened up her pub to anyone she knows who has received a summons, since most people are kept in poverty to keep them in line. Chas Dingle feels it’s only right to give them a final bit of dignity before they’re lined up like berries, ripe for picking.

Aaron thinks part of her wonders why he doesn’t fight it. Doesn’t run. He doesn’t tell her that he’s seen what happens when people run. When what they love most is taken from them, be it family, what little livelihood they have, or their lives. That the first boy he ever loved he buried because he tried to run. And that it’s a hurt that still gouges deep inside his soul.

No, Aaron can bear it for one night because that’s all it is. The sick and twisted joke of it is that it’s only necessary because of all of the inbreeding between the Elite families. That when they realised their children were weakening and dying, they needed newer, fresher blood to sustain their families, _their rule_.

 _They need someone who isn’t their 3 rd and 6th cousin to fuck_, Aaron thinks as he lays out his black suit. He normally wears it for funerals; they attend a lot in this county because of the fields. So much plush greenery, and the green has so much to give if they just go looking for it, or whatever spiel they spout to get idiots to move here and die like chattel.

No, Aaron will get in and out, and forget it ever happened.

His suit fits well, he’s had enough to eat this winter that he still fills it out, but he knows other families who haven’t done as well.

That’s the rub.

If one of them likes you enough, you can win riches beyond your wildest dreams, favours for a job well done, and at best, pull your family out of destitution through a marriage born out of whoring.

Aaron’s ashamed to acknowledge that he’s thought about it. Not a sham marriage, but asking the women he knows the ways to please, in the hopes that he can help not just his mum, but more families.

He knows he can’t do it though. Even as he walks up the steps of the main house, an overbearing structure on the edge of one of the farms portraying wealth and value and nothing of the people that live around it, he knows he cannot betray himself.

 

*

 

What strikes Aaron is how civilised it all is.

He has his invitation and he’s not allowed in without it, as if this is an event someone should desire to be at. In exchange, he’s offered a black mask to cover the top half of his features. The only way that the poor are allowed to protect themselves, to hide their identities from retribution or failure, but even then, they can be singled out by their lack of jewels and refinements.

Aaron adjusts his in the mirror until he can just see his blue eyes through the eye slits and the bottom rim of the design is digging into his cheeks.

With his black mask, black suit and black shirt and tie, he stands out from rich and poor alike. They all look, watching and whispering, as Aaron pushes further into the room.

He recognises a few people by their clothes and he heads towards his friend Adam, he knows that tie anywhere, and they clap backs and embrace.

“How y’doin’?” Adam whispers. He knows. About Aaron. Aaron doesn’t think it’s any different between them. Neither one of them wants to be here, but they have to be, or suffer the consequences.

“Alright, you?”

“Better if I had one of those rings.”

The ring is proof that you did your duty. A jewelled band means you’ve done the deed and you will never receive another summons, a black one is handed out at the end of the night to show you haven’t and you are once again subject to the draw and being summoned again. A person can get three black bands before they’re disappeared. Whether that’s true or not, they don’t know, it’s just that Sally Keating got three black bands, one after the other, and then no one ever heard from her again. Her family died within three years due to the cold and having no money for heat.

Sally was like Aaron.

The turmoil in his gut ratchets up.

A woman with a white mask, red hair and pretty jewels tries to talk to him and he simply turns his back on her.

Adam hisses his name when she walks away.

“Mate, she’s gonna tell people—”

“I can’t do it, Adam,” Aaron panics, “I thought if I thought about Mum—”

“Aaron, come on.”

“ _I’m gay_.”

A man in maroon passes them but stops when Aaron hisses out the words. His mask is detailed and his suit immaculate. An Elite.

 _Shit, shit, fuck_.

“Come with me,” he tells Aaron, and gestures away.

Aaron shakes his head, “No.”

There’s a tiny jerk of the man’s head when he realises Aaron has rejected his proposition, “I’m not asking.”

Adam grabs Aaron’s wrist and doesn’t let go. They both feel it. The fear that this might be the last time they see each other.

The man sighs, “He’s coming back.”

Aaron relaxes a millimetre, and Adam still hugs him before Aaron follows his masked maker through the throng of people to staircase.

“What—?”

“Don’t ask, just go.” He gestures for Aaron to head up.

 

*

 

They come to a door which leads to a bedroom. It’s large enough that there is a bed on one side and by the window is a desk with a seating area, the man leaning against the desk after he walks past Aaron into the room.

Aaron doesn’t say anything, but the man takes out a small jewelled ring from his pocket, putting it on the desk beside him.

It’s small, it would never fit Aaron’s finger, it’s intended for a woman.

 _Oh_.

“You’re gay?” He asks.

The reply is stern: “No.”

“But I would like to spend the night with you, the reward being that ring.”

There’s nothing to say Aaron couldn’t accept that ring and have it be his payment out of the summoning. That he knows of.

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch.”

Aaron doesn’t believe it. Elite men don’t fuck other men. They can’t spread their wealth without kids. It could be a trap to get him to out himself and void his place in the summoning, dooming his family. It’s not unheard of.

On the other side, is it really any different to what he was supposed to do anyway? Fuck someone rich and finally get on with the rest of his life.

Aaron looks at the man. His mask obscures a lot, but he’s got blonde hair and seems well made: broad shoulders, a trim waist and long legs. As if he can sense Aaron’s interest on him, he stands up and lets his hands fall to his sides so that Aaron can take as much or as little from looking at him.

“So, what? You figured you’d pick up the first bloke who said he was gay?” It’s not like he can hide it. He was caught saying it.

Aaron refuses to back down when he’s loomed over. There’s barely anything in it, a couple of inches, and he has the stronger build of the two.

He isn’t expecting to be kissed, to have two warm, slightly dry hands grab at his face and hold him close as chapped lips hit squarely on his mouth. Aaron can feel stubble that is not his own prickling at his lips and he can’t deny it. He fits his hands around his kissing captor’s biceps and lets himself be led down the garden path.

He’s shocked a second time when he’s pulled in only to be pushed away.

“Take the ring and go.”

“What?”

“ _Go_.”

Aaron slips around him to pick up the ring. It’s his ticket out of here without violating any part of his body, other than his mouth, and that’s much more than anyone else will get from these people tonight. And yet, he can’t help but look back at those wide shoulders slumped and dejected.

“What’s your name?” He asks, and that blonde head rises up.

It’s completely taboo, but Aaron watches as the mask comes up and off and he’s faced with a beautiful man in his entirety.

“Robert.”

Robert has red coming up around his mouth from Aaron’s beard, and Aaron puts the ring into his inside breast pocket before he puts his hands on Robert’s hips. With a simple pull, Aaron jerks Robert forward and bumps their groins together and watches as Robert doesn’t know where to put his hands.

“Have you ever—?” Aaron asks.

Robert nods, “A few times.”

A few times isn’t enough. It’s not a life. For all that Aaron has suffered being poor, he’s always known what it’s like to feel a pleasurable touch from someone he desired. There are places for it, to meet people even if they can’t openly speak about it. Maybe the Elites don’t have that. Aaron wonders how much Robert has risked on not only taking a chance on him, but also letting him go.

For everything Robert is giving him, Aaron doesn’t think a kiss is a valuable enough payment.

So, he slides down Robert’s body and ignores everything apart from getting his trousers open and down his thighs. This is obviously familiar to Robert because his fingers go to the back of Aaron’s head and holds him gently as he mouths wetly over Robert’s boxers. Robert’s interest is rising, his thumb rubbing against Aaron’s hair as Aaron peels his underwear down and lets Robert bounce freely in the air. Aaron adjusts his mask a little further up as he opens his mouth and it presses harder into his skin as he swallows Robert down to get the tip wet.

It’s a powerful thing to hear Robert’s little “oh!” as Aaron sucks around the head, swiping his tongue over it before taking in as much as he can into the back of his throat to make Robert’s knees bend. He stumbles a bit and grabs onto the shoulders of Aaron’s blazer to steady himself and Aaron pulls off with a wet trail following him as Robert grabs his chin to force it up.

Rather than willing Aaron to stand, Robert gets on his knees and shoves his tongue inside Aaron’s mouth. Ignorant of whether Aaron wants to keep his mask on or not, Robert pushes it off and drags Aaron under him as he gets Aaron to lie on his back, legs spread to accept Robert’s weight. Up on his elbows either side of Aaron’s head, Robert kisses like he’s been in the desert and offered a drink of water. It’s not artless. Instead, it’s overshadowed by weighty need. Aaron tries to ease some of it by cupping Robert’s arse and encouraging him to slide against Aaron’s stomach, and Robert stops kissing him long enough to watch his own cock slide in the folds of Aaron’s shirt.

It works because he slows his kisses, breathes heavily into Aaron’s mouth as he asks him his name.

“Aaron,” he replies with a hiss as Robert drags Aaron’s trousers over him just so. Robert fumbles one hand down between them to unzip Aaron’s trousers and gets his hand inside the fabric.

“What do you like, Aaron?”

He lets himself slide under as Robert slides over him, Robert’s fingers rubbing little sparks into the velvety skin.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“We’re helping each other out,” Robert points out before he bumps his mouth against Aaron’s cheek.

It’s true. It’s so true that it makes Aaron laugh.

He considers it, “Everything.”

Robert looks at him, “Everything?”

Aaron wonders what kind of sex the Elites have if they’re going out to poach breeding rights from the poor. Robert who has only done it a handful of times with men.

“Kneel over my face.”

Robert looks confused as to why, but he summarily takes off his suit jacket, his trousers and his shoes, his shirt tails hanging over his hips but parting in the middle for his erect cock. He does as he’s told, and he sighs happily when Aaron noses at his balls and gives them a long lick with his tongue. Aaron wraps his hands around from the backs of Robert’s thighs to hold his hips so that when his tongue first parts Robert’s cheeks, he can’t run from it. He jerks up as high as he can go while being restrained by Aaron’s forearms, his mouth streaming curses as Aaron drags his tongue wetly back and forth.

“What,” Robert pants, “Why?”

Aaron lies back down, “Feels good, don’t it?”

Robert’s tip is glistening, so Aaron knows that it does, but Robert’s cheeks heat as if he doesn’t want to agree.

“Spread your arse,” Aaron tells him as he wriggles a bit further under Robert. Maybe Robert can’t admit it, but his fingers part his cheeks just the same. Tucking his hips under a little bit too, Aaron has much better access and he covers Robert’s rim with his mouth, sucking and pressing his tongue thickly against the tight muscle as it flexes with Robert’s choked out breathing. With no chance of Robert making a second escape, Aaron gets a hand down his own pants and strokes himself in time with the hot licks of his tongue.

“Are you—?” Robert looks back at where Aaron’s hand is tenting his clothes, “Fuck. _Fuck_.”

Robert takes Aaron’s actions as permission to wrap his own fingers around his own cock. His rim tightens and flexes more rhythmically with the pleasure he pulls out of his dick, Aaron takes the chance of pushing his tongue inside, and Robert comes off a little bit, but nowhere near what he tried to do before.

“ _Aaron_ ,” Robert chastises. Aaron ignores him and pulls on his hip to get Robert to sit back on his face more. He does, but he gives himself a little rock and he lets out another one of those ohs. Robert moves back and forth again and realises that he can ride Aaron’s face if he chooses, fuck himself on Aaron’s tongue.

Robert abruptly gets off Aaron’s face while squeezing the base of his cock. Aaron lets Robert compose himself, “Y’alright?”

He hums, his legs a little shaky and Aaron rubs his thigh to soothe him before he’s nodding: “Again?”

Aaron guides him back over his face and this time he pushes harder. He drags his teeth over Robert’s skin and pinches it gently to the sounds of Robert’s groans as he presses against Aaron’s mouth for more. He breathes as best he can as Robert circles his hips to chase that elusive end until it creeps up on him and Aaron can feel it around his tongue.

It’s Aaron’s favourite of all Robert’s ohs because it quivers with a sharp inhale before it transmutes into a moan as Aaron continues to stroke him with his tongue, inside and then out. He touches with his fingers where Robert has made his own shirt a sticky mess and the thought of it makes his own cock throb and pulse as he finally lets Robert go as he lies his head back down on the floor.

“That was—” Robert licks his lips.

Aaron feels proud. Robert still has a flush of red on the high points of his cheeks and his thighs are still straining as he sits on his calves and ankles to try and keep most of his weight off Aaron’s shoulders.

“Can I?” Robert asks him as he gets up off him, Aaron looks at him with his head turned to the side.

“What?”

He gestures to Aaron’s groin.

“Suck my dick?” Aaron laughs, and Robert rolls his eyes.

“No, can I do…that?”

 _Oh_. What he just did.

“If you want. Probably don’t want me sitting on your chest though.” Aaron winces as he sits up, finally taking his jacket off and getting his trousers and pants down to free his cock.

“Wait,” Robert holds his hand out, and Aaron doesn’t move, his face scrunched up in a frown, “just roll over.”

Aaron does as he’s told, rolling up onto all fours as Robert pulls off his tie and unbuttons the top of his shirt. He watches as Robert gets himself situated behind Aaron, his big hand rubbing his arse cheek like it could hold the entirety in one hand.

 _Maybe it can_.

Aaron hangs his head rather than looking or thinking about Robert’s hands. For a second, nothing happens, but lo and behold, Robert the king of surprises, blows gently on his skin.

“Good?” Robert asks, and Aaron nods, not trusting his voice. “What about this?”

He does what Aaron did, licks a teasing stripe between his cheeks.

Aaron breathes, “Yeah.”

Robert doesn’t do it a second time, he parts Aaron with his fingers and spits on him instead.

“Oh, fuck.”

Robert takes inadvertent instruction as well as direct, lapping Aaron’s rim before he spits on it again.

“Put your finger in too,” Aaron swipes his tongue over his own bottom lip as he looks back at Robert, who nods at him, quickly putting his index finger in his mouth before he brings them both back to Aaron’s arse.

“It’s good,” Aaron keens as he rocks off Robert’s finger as he pushes it inside, nudging gently downward, steadily collapsing Aaron’s resistance to it. Robert goes back to lapping, but now around his finger now, and Aaron can’t. His dick is swaying in the air as he folds himself down on his arms, one of which he reaches down to wrap around the head of his cock and teases the tip as Robert keeps up his attentions on his arse.

Everything comes into hyper focus: the softness of the carpet on his knees, his own stuttered breathing, Robert humming happily as he presses his finger inside and his mouth wets Aaron outside. Aaron’s vision whites out at the edges as he drags his forehead down on the carpet, biting on his own forearm as he clenches up tight and then loosens as his body drips come out of his cock.

His “fuck” is drawn out and Robert eases him through all of it, takes his finger away with a gentle kiss on Aaron’s tailbone.

Robert guides him onto his back, his trousers a mess of clothes around his knees and his shirt probably caught a bit of his own wet spot, but Aaron doesn’t care.

His mouth barely works when Robert kisses him. He’s just a damp beard and puffy lips as Robert takes his fill of him.

Robert lies along Aaron’s side and touches him through his shirt as he gives Aaron these gentle kisses that don’t spell out sex, but instead keep their mood intimate. Aaron holds Robert’s wrist as he twists Aaron’s nipple, the pain lancing through the pleasure in the best possible way.

Aaron looks at Robert who is looking up and down the length of his body, “What?”

“Is…” Robert laughs and shakes his head, “Is that it?”

Aaron would almost be annoyed, but he knows what Robert means. They’re both spent and satiated, but _is that it?_ Isn’t there anymore that they can do together? It’s that craving more that has Aaron rolling Robert under _him_.

It’s more of an assumption than anything else, but Aaron thinks that Robert has never been fucked. He slides his hand down between Robert’s legs and he huffs a laugh as Aaron slowly probes at his hole again with one finger. The steadier press inside gets Robert’s attention and his face turns serious.

“I didn’t think so,” Aaron tells him.

Robert pushes at his shoulder and Aaron rolls back onto his side, “And?”

It’s the closest thing to embarrassment that Aaron has seen on Robert.

“If you want to,” Aaron offers as he strokes Robert’s hip.

“Why would I?” Robert makes a face like he can’t believe Aaron would suggest it.

“Because after tonight you won’t ever see me again, why not try it once?” Aaron sucks a kiss into Robert’s thigh, not quite a hickey, but not just a press of his lips. “You might not even like it.”

“Do you?”

Aaron leans back on his arm, “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Feels good, don’t it?”

Robert stares at him, “You do a lot of stuff because it feels good, don’t you?”

“Sex is supposed to be good.”

“Sex is to further the species,” Robert intonates, Aaron doubts he believes it, but it’s the first glimpse he’s ever had into what the Elites are taught. Aaron has only even known that sex is supposed to feel good, bring you closer to another person. Even if it is illegal as a lifestyle choice in his case.

“Tell me how my tongue up your arse is supposed to further the species?” Aaron deadpans, and Robert sits up. “Sorry.”

“You’re right. It felt good. Really good.” Robert looks back at him, “I liked doing it to you.”

That makes Aaron blush. It also makes him give up a bit of himself, “I like how impossible it feels.”

Robert tilts his head to the side, like he’s listening more intently.

“Like it shouldn’t work, but it does, and it feels amazing.”

“Amazing, huh?”

Aaron smiles, “When it’s good.”

“Would you be good to me, Aaron?” Robert teases, and Aaron doesn’t answer him. He just sits up with him and kisses his cheek, keeps kissing him until Robert turns his mouth to his and they catch each other’s lips as they take Robert’s shirt off, his too, and slipping off the rest of his own clothes before they lie on their sides, naked in front of each other, ignoring all of it in favour of their mouths keeping up their generous slips of tongue.

Aaron forces the break, his mouth tracing down Robert’s throat, feeling it flex as he swallows and how it vibrates with his moans as Aaron pushes his hip back.

Robert helps him over to get between his thighs, only an edge of nervousness to him now, “Don’t we need—?”

“Do you have—?”

“Bedside table.”

Aaron leaves Robert on the floor, cupping his hand over his cock as Aaron opens up the drawer for the lube. There are no condoms, but that’s true of everywhere. They’re so focused on making babies that no one is entitled to safe sex. But Aaron, Aaron knows people and it cost him almost an arm and a fucking leg, but he has two in his wallet.

Robert looks at him like he’s got gold dust, “How?”

“How do you get them?” Aaron asks as he takes his spot again but this time on his knees. “For the times you’ve—”

And Aaron realises he didn’t. He had to stupidly risk his health, his _life_ to be able to have sex. With anyone. Aaron feels fiercely protective of Robert, “Don’t. Don’t ever have sex with someone who you don’t know is clean.”

“ _I know_ ,” Robert casts his eyes down, “There isn’t a lot of choice here; I chose people, _men_ , I could run backgrounds on. Men from my household.”

The mood is heavy for the wrong reasons now, Aaron tries to smile, “Doesn’t matter, I’m gonna ruin you and you won’t want to have sex with anyone else.”

“A bold claim, c’mon then,” Robert grins, pulling his knees up and Aaron has to shuffle forward to be between them.

Aaron falls over Robert onto his hands before he lowers himself down for another one of those kisses. He lets himself get lost in it and he holds Robert’s face in his hands as Robert grapples with his bum to get him pressing his groin over his. It makes Aaron laugh.

“One track mind.”

“You’re fit, and you promised me sex.”

Aaron puts his hand on Robert’s cock and gives it a few healthy tugs, enough to get Robert to close his eyes and breathe through his nose.

“We’ll get there,” he tells him before he lets Robert go.

“Get there faster.”

It makes Aaron chuckle to himself as he uncaps the lube, muttering about a pushy bottom and Robert glares at him.

“Hold your knees,” Aaron encourages as he keeps Robert’s focus on him, leaning over him, making eye contact as he touches him with the cold gel. He starts with his middle finger and pushes it in like Robert did for him, slowly, but all at once. He watches Robert’s face as his mouth drops open and he screws his eyes shut. His legs drop, his fingers drag in the carpet, and Aaron leans back to give himself space.

It’s a lot, he knows it is, so Aaron picks up Robert’s cock and wraps his lips back around the tip, Robert’s hands immediately cupping the back of his head with a whimper peeling out of Robert’s throat.

He grunts like he’s frustrated, and Aaron lets him go with his mouth, “What?”

“’S good.”

Aaron takes his hand away and puts more slick on his fingers and presses back with two. Robert jerks like he wasn’t expecting it, but he strokes himself, exposing the slowly glistening again head.

“Robert, d’you want to?” Aaron asks him as he curls his fingers forwards. Robert moans in the back of his throat and nods.

Aaron chucks him the condom, which he fumbles with taking out of the packet which he does before taking the opportunity to suck Aaron’s cock to make sure he’s all the way hard, drawing his balls away from his body with a soft tug. When Aaron’s dick is shiny with latex, he puts a coat of lubricant on it and Robert watches with hawk eyes.

“You’re sure this is good?”

Aaron pushes Robert’s knees apart, “Yeah, but if you don’t want—”

“Like you said; impossible.”

It’s a lot to be someone’s first, and Aaron doesn’t take it lightly as Robert licks his lips and waits for Aaron to press against him.

Aaron doesn’t do that, he lies on Robert’s chest and kisses him again, kisses him until he wraps his arms around Aaron’s shoulders as he’s pushing his dick against Aaron’s belly.

He tells Robert to keep going, to keep rocking and Robert nods his head again, hiding his face in Aaron’s neck as he holds onto him. Robert naturally tenses up when he feels Aaron touch him, so Aaron backs off and kisses him again, the side of Robert’s face he can reach, his temple, his mouth when he looks back up.

It happens once more, the almost, and Aaron drawing back.

“Aaron, for fuck’s sake, get in me.”

Robert shuts up when Aaron finally starts to breach him, his hands going around to hold his waist. It garners another little “oh”.

One thing in Robert’s favour is that he knows how to bear down. He doesn’t fight Aaron’s intrusion into his body, if anything he relaxes and lets his legs fall wider open as he strokes his cock.

“Okay, yeah, you were right, it’s impossible, it’s good, shit, yeah,” Robert streams as Aaron keeps pressing forward, his hips just touching Robert’s bum.

“Robert—” Aaron grits out, “shut up.”

“You’re not the one who feels like they’ve got a rod shove up their—”

Aaron pinches Robert’s thigh and it makes him shift to try and get away and his eyes light up when he realises it feels good to move.

“What? No ‘oh?’”

“Shut up, idiot.”

Aaron rolls his hips at the same time Robert rolls his, and even through the condom, Robert is a wall of heat around him that he’s fighting to be inside but also to slip out of, “Fuck.”

“Robert.”

He looks up at Aaron instead of down at his own penis which is rigidly twitching against his stomach. Slowly, they move together, Aaron pulling out before delving back in, Robert rocking his hips to Aaron’s thrusts while grabbing onto his arms for support.

Robert is unconsciously nodding with every thrust inside of him, Aaron watching him as he once again watches their bodies mix and blend with a soft sort of fascination.

_Do you like it? Is it worth it?_

Robert starts to bite and pull at his bottom lip, his fingers digging in harder to Aaron’s arms, but it’s like he can’t miss a beat, any moment that he isn’t focused is a moment lost.

Aaron nudges his nose with his own, “Just feel it, yeah?”

Permission granted, Robert lets Aaron go and lies on his back, letting it arch away from the carpet. He places all his faith in Aaron as he smooths his hands over his belly and wraps one around his cock. Aaron feels all of it like a wedge in the bottom of his spine. Robert is unabashed in his sexuality and it’s fucking beautiful. How dare the world tell anyone that they’re wrong.

It’s less a lesson now and more a shared pleasure, his own groans turn to keening sighs that Robert encourages out of him with broad strokes against his skin and strong fingers that scratch patterns into his back.

“Aaron.”

He looks up, but Robert isn’t calling him, he’s just breathing his name in the way that lovers do.

“Robert.”

Robert looks at him with a small smile.

Aaron takes Robert’s hands, their fingers lacing together, and he puts them above his head as he continues to ride his hips against Robert’s arse. There isn’t space to separate like this, so it’s just hard and heavy slaps of skin on skin.

Robert nods again and Aaron knows he’s got it. He lets Robert’s hands go, they stay where they are, and Aaron holds himself up on Robert’s shoulders and fucks his way in deep and tight. More than anything else they’ve done, this makes Robert loud. He whines and grunts and moans like everything Aaron does to him is too much. Still, Aaron waits until Robert’s cock is deep red, verging on purple before he takes it, with spit in hand, and strokes Robert until he’s trying to curl up on himself, knees squeezing Aaron’s sides and he blurts come all the way up to his collarbone.

Aaron leaves him moaning like he’s wounded while he chases his own orgasm, his cock barely surviving the vice that was Robert coming all over himself. He watches as Robert keeps touching himself, shaking the last few drops onto his abdomen and Aaron makes a few educated thrusts, ones that shove Robert along the floor before he cries out and fills the condom. He becomes aware of himself when he notices Robert rubbing his arms again and kissing the inside of his forearm.

Robert pulls at one tuft of his arm hair and his smile falters, “Thank you.”

Aaron feels his own face turn sombre as he pulls out and ties off the condom, “It’s just sex.”

Robert sits up and touches behind himself, he comes back with lube on his fingers, “Or amazing when it’s good? Or is it good when it’s amazing?”

Aaron laughs, “It’s whatever you want.”

It’s not though. Not in the world of Elites and everyone else.

“There’s a shower, if you want,” Robert offers.

He realises that this whole time they’ve been on the floor, the fancy bedspread not even touched by their bodies. Gross and a bit crusty, having a shower here might be the nicest shower he ever has.

He doesn’t want it.

“’m good.”

They both get dressed in their clothes, dirtier than when they first came in, and their hands clasp in a friendly shake that belies everything they’ve just done with each other.

Aaron ignores everything that tells him not to, and he steps back into Robert’s space for one last kiss. Robert makes it worth it because when he realises, he smiles wide and closes his eyes, ready for Aaron’s lips on his.

It’s not a sexual kiss, it’s not a short kiss either. It just flows from Aaron into Robert and back again, leaving them both smiling before they put their masks back on and go back to the ‘party’.

 

*

 

The first thing Aaron does is goes to the section where rings are exchanged for authentic papers stating that his presence is no longer required for a summoning. The man behind the desk looks at the size of the ring and Aaron feels himself sweat a little.

He throws up his hand and he half smiles, half grimaces, “Big fingers.”

The man nods and eyes Aaron distastefully.

Aaron doesn’t know if there’s a barcode or whatever, but something is noted, and Aaron is given his papers. His freedom. He looks back at all those who have this ahead of them, and those who will have to come back again, and some…some who will disappear.

 _It’s a fucking awful system_.

But it’s one he’s not a part of anymore.

 

 

 

Adam catches up with him the next day. Aaron pours him a pint, and Adam tries to look solemn.

“You got papers then?” Aaron asks.

Adam’s eyes flit up, “What?”

“You came in without a face looking like a slapped arse, so something good musta happened.”

“Aaron—”

“I…I have papers too.”

“You what?” Adam reels back, and Aaron makes a face.

“Cheers!”

“You know what I mean, how did you get papers?”

“I did what I had to.”

Robert, on the floor, so deep inside him that Aaron could have disappeared.

Adam grins, “We should be celebrating then!”

“You said it,” Aaron laughs, and pours himself a drink. He can afford it now. A nice little stack of pounds appearing on his doorstep. A state funded scheme he signed up to ages ago that if he ever _performed_ his duties, he’d get a nice cash sum. He tried to give some to his mum, but she’s still on one about what Aaron ‘did’. He left Robert out of all of it.

Aaron stops Adam before he picks their spot at the back of the tavern, “You’re alright though?”

Adam’s face loses a bit of its dazzle, “It’s fine, mate. It’s done.”

It is.

 

*

 

It’s a bleary morning two weeks later when someone comes banging on his front door.

“Jesus, wait up!”

He opens the door to two coppers.

“Aaron Dingle?”

“Er, yeah?”

“We’re here to arrest you for fraud.”

“You what?” He looks at them like they’ve grown two new heads.

“There are claims that you acted fraudulently at the most recent summoning.”

“No, I did my bit, got my ring. It’s sorted.”

“Evidence proves otherwise.”

“Doubt it.” Aaron folds his arms when the policeman to his left tries to guide him out.

“You are really going to want to get in front of this, Mr Dingle.”

There’s something in the man’s tone of voice that makes Aaron reconsider and he stops posturing and gets into the car when the door is opened for him.

His mum is throwing herself out the door just as he’s being buckled in.

“No, you can’t take him! He didn’t do anything wrong.”

As much as Aaron wants to worry for himself, his first thought was Robert.

 

 

 

His state led grant is what opened up the investigation. They’re clamping down on fraudulent claims and Aaron’s claim was flagged.

“Why? It’s all above board. I went, I shagged, I got myself some nice jewellery,”

The detective, a repugnant middle-aged sort and definitely not one of the officers who brought him in, puts a plastic baggy in front of him.

“Then why was a condom found in the room you were supposedly in. A _used_ condom.”

Everyone has a DNA record because of their mandatory STI testing. They know he used it.

_Shit._

_Shit._

_Fuck_.

“I used a condom, so what?” Aaron tries rein in his panic.

“So, you used a condom during a summoning wherein the sole purpose is to facilitate procreation?” The baggy gets pushes to one side with a pen, “Or maybe that was not the case.”

“To not have kids?”

“To not sleep with someone of the opposite gender.”

Aaron sees it for what it is now. This isn’t about whether he used a condom. They’re on a witchhunt for people who defy the system. _Homosexuals_.

More than that, homosexuals who corrupt the Elite. Maybe if Robert had shagged him they wouldn’t be in this mess.

“G’on then, ask me,” Aaron spits.

The detective gets a smile on his face like a crocodile, “Are you homosexual, Mr Dingle?”

He realises he isn’t getting out of this, so he sets fire to it all.

“Am I gay and did I fuck one of your precious fancy boys?”

“You will not—”

“Not what? Be gay? To enjoy shagging for the sake of shagging?”

“Enough.”

“Yeah, I had him. On the floor but fuck you if you think I’m going to tell you who.”

 

 

 

Aaron doesn’t see daylight for five days.

He is shamed as an abhorrence in an open trial.

In a cruel twist of fate, because Robert is an Elite, his DNA cannot be taken into account without his permission, and if Aaron won’t name him, they can’t ask.

He drowns out all of their venom because he knows who he is. Activists come to fight his cause. Hold him up as the poster boy for Gay Jesus.

What they don’t realise is that they make it worse.

Aaron becomes an example. The system will not be corrupted. The system will not be devalued. One life is not worth more.

So, he gets the first public death sentence in fifty years. He won’t disappear. He’ll die in front of the masses to teach them a lesson.

 

In and amongst all of it, the only thing that hurts is that Aaron never, not once, sees Robert.

 

 

*

 

His is a death by hanging. A long drop because they wouldn’t want to be seen as cruel. They take his clothes and give him ones that can easily be cut from him when he’s dead. His mum rails as she comes to see him one last time.

“Mum, it’s done, yeah?”

“Why, Aaron? Why are you protecting him?” Chas demands.

“Because it ain’t about him! They aren’t killing me because of him. _They’re killing me because I’m me_.”

Chas sobs and holds him as he cries. He doesn’t want to die, but they won’t let him live.

 

 

They lead him out in a procession, he is the only person to be executed, so he stands alone before he’s forced to walk up to the scaffold.

 

 

The crowd is packed, but silent. Everyone is staring, and Aaron tries to ignore them. They fit the noose around his neck, tightening it just so.

It’s then he hears the cry.

“ _No_.”

It’s Robert.

The people part and everyone freezes from what they were doing.

Aaron can see him, he looks awful, like he hasn’t slept or eaten since they saw each other last.

“You didn’t give me up,” Robert shouts up to him.

Aaron laughs through his tears, “’Course not.”

“You should’ve,” Robert wipes his eyes, “Take ‘im down.”

“Mr Sugden—”

Aaron can’t believe his eyes as he’s freed from his noose. He knows the name Sugden, it’s one of the original Elite families, and the most influential. They’re also known for being down to their last natural born son. _Robert_.

Robert is forcing himself up onto the scaffold and he’s untying Aaron’s hands for him, “They wouldn’t let me find you.”

Aaron doesn’t have words, he just follows dumbly as Robert forces one of his guards to give him his jacket against the cold.

“I came out, told them I’m bisexual, forced them to let you go, but they overrode me. Threw me in prison too.”

Aaron is no one, but an Elite? A Sugden? Robert could change the whole system. _And he did_.

“Why?” He croaks. If Robert had the power before, why didn’t he do it?

“I was scared,” Robert looks at him with red rimmed eyes and Aaron believes him, “I thought they’d do to me what they did to you. But when they did it to you…because you did what I asked you to, I couldn’t—”

Robert chokes on his own emotions and Aaron is free enough that he can wrap his arms around Robert.

“I’m so sorry, Aaron.”

“It’s done now, ain’t it?” _All of it_.

 

*

 

The front page of the paper the next day is **Love Conquers All**.

Robert explains it to him once they get him down and officially freed. Him and every other homosexual wrongly imprisoned.

The principle of the summoning works on the basis of heterosexual procreation. Robert being a bisexual, and last of his name, throws a massive wrench in the works because he’s not heterosexual. And they, the Elite council, made up of the heads of the Elite families, couldn’t make him go away like they did Aaron and the others.

“So, you threw your weight around?” Aaron asks over a cup of tea.

“Backed by my sister,” Robert turns his mug handle, “When I came out she wouldn’t back down from protecting me, swore she wouldn’t bear any children for the Sugden name, so they couldn’t do anything without collapsing everything. Our Vic is small, but she is mighty.”

Robert laughs at his own Shakespeare reference.

“They put their stock in blood and procreation when life is so much more than that.” Robert smiles softly, “You taught me that.”

“We shagged on the floor like a couple of rutting dogs.”

Robert’s eyes are soft, and he won’t let Aaron minimise himself, “You changed everything, Aaron, just by being who you are.”

“So did you,” Aaron points out, “I’ve been telling people I’m gay for years—”

“Aaron.”

He falls silent and lets Robert pay him the compliment.

“The optics are complicated,” Robert says abruptly after a moment.

“Optics?”

“Everyone thinks we’re a great love story? Shagging on the floor ‘like rutting dogs’ isn’t a love story.”

Aaron shrugs, “Fuck ‘em.”

Robert gets up and sits on the chair in next to Aaron rather than in front of him.

Aaron leans back, and Robert leans forward.

“Maybe I don’t want it to be for them.”

“What?”

“It’s a new world, Aaron,” Robert asks him with his eyes downcast. “I’d like a chance at it with you.”

“You wanna—”

“Yeah.”

Aaron shakes his head like he still can’t quite believe Robert is real. He reaches out with his hand and touches him, cups his cheek in his hand and Robert smiles as he leans into it.

“Okay…let’s start now then,” Aaron takes his hand down from Robert’s face and turns his palm up for Robert to lay his hand on.

Robert laughs softly to himself before he takes Aaron’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

That’s all it is. Two clasped hands and it’s the start of something completely different. Something new. Something not Elite or poor. Just Aaron and just Robert.

 


End file.
